OT: Chip Kelly to Cal???
- Thread starter mikemarc1
- Start date
Surprised at this. Cal is like Rutgers in that there is a strong contingent of folks who are not on board with big time athletics. They just extended him last year:
coach Sonny Dykes has agreed in principle to a contract extension with California through the 2019 season, the school announced Thursday.The deal, which will average $2.825 million over the next four years, still requires approval from the UC Board of Regents before it can become official.
2013 California 1–11 0–9 6th (North)
2014 California 5–7 3–6 4th (North)
2015 California 8–5 4–5 T–4th (North) W Armed Forces
2016 California 5–7 3–6 T–4th (North)
coach Sonny Dykes has agreed in principle to a contract extension with California through the 2019 season, the school announced Thursday.The deal, which will average $2.825 million over the next four years, still requires approval from the UC Board of Regents before it can become official.
2013 California 1–11 0–9 6th (North)
2014 California 5–7 3–6 4th (North)
2015 California 8–5 4–5 T–4th (North) W Armed Forces
2016 California 5–7 3–6 T–4th (North)
There's been quite a few late off season changes this year. Pretty unusual, it's partially due to off the field stuff but still. Usually most of the firings happen by that monday/tuesday after the last regular season game at the latest. I think we've had 3-4 after that, regardless of the reason.
With regards to Cal, not sure what they were waiting for, would they really have a shot at Kelly? Have they already put out feelers? If not that or some other off the field stuff, why the heck did they wait so long?
With these late firings, it's probably gone from a below average number of changes in the P5, to probably the low end of the average range.
That seems weird. Dykes himself was a pretty strong offensive coach IIRC. You'd replace him with a young hotshot who came from Texas A&M just last year? For it to be an in staff hire it would make me wonder if it isn't some off the field thing.
From what I know about Cal, they would not fire a coach for on the field performance at this point. Granted, Dykes' record is not great, but he did go 8-5 last year, and their defense had a lot of injured players, contributing to their defensive woes.
- possibility is also out there that with the number of NFL HC spots open, at least one of them might create yet another college opening.
Many Niner fans are also Cal fans. Might not be received very well. Chip is not popular in California.
In four seasons under Dykes, the Bears never ranked better than 102nd in the nation in yards per play allowed. They were #125 in Yards per game this year.
It was clear Sonny Dykes no longer wanted to be at Cal. He interviewed at other schools the last three seasons, which, sources told ESPN, angered those inside Cal's athletic administration to the point many were hopeful he was hired somewhere else – namely Baylor this year. There was also a belief that the department – which is running at a deficit of approximately $20 million a year – could not justify his buyout ($5.88 million). One way to explain today's strange timing is if the school now believes it can hire a coach whose salary would be offset by money owed by a previous employer, making the buyout doable. One such coach: former Oregon coach Chip Kelly, who was fired by the 49ers last week.
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Les Miles would also fit in this category, and he brings defense?
Its a random tweet, but wouldn't this be a kick in Tim Beck's nuts if he means Texas or is it Tennessee?
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Just spent a while on bearinsider.com, the leading Cal athletic site. Everything is conjecture. Dykes is credited with improving the team's academic performance, and with only recruiting players who could handle the academics. OTOH, I read the same things there as here: that Dykes was interviewing for jobs after just getting an extension; that the team was 19-40 in Dykes' years, with only one bowl game; that Dykes, while a fine offensive coach, had a terrible defense. Chip Kelly is regarded as a long-shot. People think the timing is odd -- why not right after the last game -- but that Cal must have someone lined up (Fox is saying there'll be an announcement by the end of the week), or perhaps Cal as trying to reduce the buyout figure ($6 million package, I understand. Dykes, from Texas, never really fit in to the San Francisco Bay Area, I understand, and Cal fans really didn't accept him.
Not all true. Many Cal fans would consider him a big upgrade. They remember his work at Oregon.
was this speculation about the search for a new OC @ Tennessee to replace Mike DeBord, who left for Indiana earlier this week?
Sonny Dykes released a statement-he was caught by surprise.
Cal said they wanted a coach committed to the program--guess his frequent interviews got on their nerves. Cal owes Sonny $5million.
Cal said they wanted a coach committed to the program--guess his frequent interviews got on their nerves. Cal owes Sonny $5million.
That doesn't make any sense. Why buy someone out when they are about to leave on their own? OR no takers I guess. Maybe there should be a clause in the contract that says if you interview at enough places and no one wants you, then your buyout should no longer apply.
My guess is that Cal does things a little bit differently, to a degree like we do. They probably have a group that needs to meet and weigh everything out and make a decision. Pros and cons to Dykes.
Can they upgrade? Probably.
Can they upgrade? Probably.
Just because he's interviewing around you fire him? That sounds childish to some degree. I'm not saying you have to like it but just accept it, is it worth 5M? It's the nature of the business, what can you do other than write something into the contract for the future. If it was a small buyout I'd have no issue but 5M is a good chunk of money. How about the staff salaries too?
I guess they better hope the new guy is a former guy from somewhere else thus reducing the money they have to pay. It kind of narrows down the the field though.
Les Miles seems like a logical choice, by those standards, but not sure how much better of a fit he'd be there than Dykes was. But it could likely be his last stop (he's in his early 60s) compared to Dykes so I'm not sure he'd look around as much and he still seems desperate to get into coaching so it's possible.
I guess they better hope the new guy is a former guy from somewhere else thus reducing the money they have to pay. It kind of narrows down the the field though.
Les Miles seems like a logical choice, by those standards, but not sure how much better of a fit he'd be there than Dykes was. But it could likely be his last stop (he's in his early 60s) compared to Dykes so I'm not sure he'd look around as much and he still seems desperate to get into coaching so it's possible.
Does Notre Dame still owe Charlie Weiss $6 million per year? Last time I checked, he is still available. :joy:
Edit. The Notre Dame gravy train reached the station last December. It was about $2 million per year.
http://thebiglead.com/2016/08/24/wh...-notre-dame-he-celebrated-with-a-coors-light/
Until last December (2015), Charlie Weis was still one of the best-compensated coaches in college football, making $4.6 million, and he didn’t even have a job. Notre Dame and Kansas had both fired him with so much left on his contracts that both schools were paying Weis more to stay away than they were paying guys actually coaching the team.
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Yup I mentioned that in one of the coaching salary threads talking about offsets from previous employers. Perfect example of handing out extensions/salary raises based on short term results which more times than not isn't wise as I've repeated many times here regardless of whether the school has deep pockets or not.
As to Kelly's popularity, if he wins he'll be popular. It's as simple as that. His college record is much stronger than his NFL one. If hypothetically I was a 49er fan and Cal alum or Philly fan and say Temple alum I'd be drooling over any realistic chance at Kelly. The larger question would be is Kelly interested in coming back to college and to Cal as opposed to would Cal or its fans want him.
Chip Kelly loves mixing up multiple power spread schemes which worked real well at Oregon. In the pro's not so much. I believe that someone like Chip would do real well at LSU maybe Ole Miss but I'm not sure he can get the athletes he needs at Cal
That is a very elegant way of saying that Cal has tough academic standards, and LSU and Ole Miss do not.
Really wasn't trying to say that but I can see how one could interpret that from my post. Is it really that hard to get in there? One of my ex-girlfriends from HS graduated from Cal.
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Not to mention most Niner fans don't blame Chip for the franchise's failure esp since he was there 1 year with the least talented roster in the league. Most blame Jed York and Trent Baalke.
Pretty sure they would be ecstatic to get Kelly.
It is very hard to get into Cal. Very hard. I am sure I would not be admitted today. Cal also grades hard.
If that wasn't the point you were making, what was? There are plenty of athletes on the west coast.
Blake was flat out awful. Jed seems to be that spoiled rich kid that gets to be the boss without any real qualifications or sensibility.
As a 49ers fan, I'll tell you your call is spot on.
York grew up idolizing his Uncle Eddie but never did ANYTHING in his life before in terms of running an organization or football-related, and then butted heads with Harbaugh (which Jim responded as only Jim would, telling him that he "only let MEN in his locker room" amongst other conflicts they had). Jed then acted like a petulant teenager and started gossip behind the scenes to spread to the media and undermine Harbaugh so that eventually when the team had enough injuries pile up with no depth thanks to Baalke's awful drafting, the team struggled and Jed used the opportunity to can Jim.
Baalke was a solid scout that did well as a scout under McCloughan, but the problem is that he was given too much power with very little management experience and was often too caught up with his own personal (over)evaluations and didn't really listen to anyone else's opinions (both Harbaugh and Kelly, I'll skip Tomsula since the guy was about as intelligent as a goldfish). He too often overvalued and drafted too high the prospects that he loved despite them usually being broadly projected 1-3 rounds later, and then in the 2nd or 3rd rounds went for the "draft steal gamble" with former studs coming off of serious injuries (like ACLs, achilles, and other injuries that threatened physiological structural integrity).
Basically both guys were similar - people that were "promoted" to roles that they were not equipped to manage on a mental and maturity level and given too much power.
Dead on observations on your end. I follow the Niners as they are down the street. As long as Jed insists on being in the spotlight, I don't know if change is really possible. For example, why interview both coach and GM now? Why not get GM and then jointly ID coach? An intervention similar to when George Young took over the Giants in the late 70s would maybe go a long way to rebuilding. But really do need a strong GM that can keep Jed in background until he matures.
Well, I felt that he would be a better fit at LSU and Ole Miss. College football is a way of life in southern states culturally speaking and is supported by HS athletes, fans and state residents alike, where in Northern California college football is popular but not a way of life. I lived in Southern California for 5 years during the 80's & early 90's and their was far more interest in professional sports.
those are great points. I don't think Dykes was ever a good fit at Cal -- too southern for them.
